Uber Relaunches in Spain as UberX

[Haia]

The sharing economy app was banned in Spain in 2014 after a Spanish judge ruled that the company did not comply with laws and represented unfair competition to the taxi industry. The company has now returned to Spain and will launch as UberX.


The new version of the app is currently only available in Madrid and only operates with professionally licensed drivers.
Uber’s Southern Europe directory, Carles Lloret told Reuters that prices will be around 30% less than for a standard taxi ride.
“I think that Spain is ready,” Mr. Lloret said in an interview. “(But) there are services which cannot yet be launched because the regulation is not sufficiently agile.”
“We want to be transparent with the government and we want to maintain a very open dialogue to see how we can build a regulatory framework in Spain that makes sense in both a European and a digital context,” he said.
A ride from Madrid airport to the centre of town will cost around €20 as opposed to the standard €30 taxi fare.

[Mary Naeem]

Thanks Haia